May is a month of quasi-holidays in South Korea. Amid this month of days that promote Korean ideals of family life, the government in 2006 designated May 11 as Adoption Day.

A less-talked-about element behind Adoption Day is the fact that most children put up for adoption are the product of relationships between men and women who don’t marry. And the shame over that is heaped most heavily on the woman carrying the baby.

That’s why, for the second year in a row, several groups that promote the rights and welfare of single moms have banded together to declare that Adoption Day also be recognized as Single Mothers’ Day. Read More »

One of the great shames of South Korean society is the poor treatment and marginalization of single mothers, whether they are divorcees or women who were never married at all.

The pressure on single moms is one of the reasons that South Korea, despite its wealth, still produces so many children who are given up for adoption by people in other countries.

Several years ago, an American doctor named Richard Boas became interested in the treatment of South Korean women, particularly those who gave up their children for adoption. He and his wife adopted a baby girl from South Korea in the late 1980s, but it took a long time for him to think about the circumstances that brought his adoptive daughter to them.

He started and funds the Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network. Read More »

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Korea Real Time provides sharp analysis and insight into what’s making news on the Korean peninsula. We chronicle the growing pains of South Korea — a country that has skyrocketed into the club of the world’s richest nations but now faces significant headwinds, and shine a spotlight on one of the world’s biggest geopolitical flashpoints: North Korea. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, we’ll tell the stories behind the headlines in business, economics, politics, culture and lifestyle. You can contact the editors at korearealtime@wsj.com